2011 WSOP Main Event Day 1 – The Story So Far

Now that Day 1 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event is officially in the books a few things are clear. With 6,865 players putting up 10K a piece, poker is far from dead. In fact, this years Main Event is the 3^rd largest of all time. Only 2010 (7,319) and 2006 (8,773) had better showings.

Some of the 6,865 players that took part in Day 1 of the 2011 WSOP Main Event.

Even with the legal troubles surrounding Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker, there were still many people who showed up to play. The fear was that many players had all their money stuck online, or that the lack of online satellites would be a huge factor in a poor showing. This was evidently not the case.

There are plenty of famous faces still left in the running. Patrik Antonius (89,100), Phil Laak (84,675) Daniel Negreanu (41,175), Ted Forrest (100,100), Annette Obrestad (68,125), Humberto Brenes (80,175), Allen Kessler (32,600), and Brandon Adams (29,450) are all still in the hunt.

Fred Berger is the chip leader heading into Day 2 with 209,500. He is the only player to have broken the 200k mark. Ben Lamb (188,925) is heading into Day 2 2^nd in chips. Lamb was previously atop the POY boards until Phil Helmuth came in runner up in the 50K Players Championship.

The Main Event winners who made it through to Day 2 were Huck Seed (42,600), Dan Harrington (42,300), Johnny Chan (34,000), Jonathan Duhamel (41,150) Joe Cada (58,225), Phil Hellmuth (11,800), Scotty Nguyen (48,325), Bobby Baldwin (27,500), Robert Varkonyi (59,525), Tom McEvoy (45,000) Joe Hachem (45,725) Jamie Gold (82,000), and Carlos Mortensen (105,025). Doyle Brunson, Jerry Yang, and Greg Raymer all failed to make it through to Day 2.

While some celebrities busted (Nelly, Ray Romano) others made it through including Jason Alexander (63,150), Shannon Elizabeth (17,725), Brad Garret (59,775) and Boston Celtic Paul Pierce (62,725).

The min-cash for this years WSOP Main Event will be $19,359. First place is set at 8.7 million. Second place is good for 5.4 million and 3^rd place will get an even 4 million, give or take a few thousand. The final 8 players are all scheduled to win at least 1 million dollars.

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